Salmon Recovery in
Washington

Washingtonians rely on salmon for food, recreation, jobs, cultural identity, and social tradition. These iconic fish evoke the best Washington has to offer – pristine water, rich landscapes, a healthy environment, and a thriving natural resource economy.

The Problem

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As Washington’s population has grown, its salmon have dwindled. In 1991, the federal government declared the first salmon in the Pacific Northwest, Snake River sockeye, as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In the next few years, 16 more species of salmon were listed as either threatened or endangered.

By 1999, wild salmon had disappeared from about 40 percent of their historic breeding ranges in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California.

In Washington, the numbers had dwindled so much that salmon and bull trout were listed as threatened or endangered in nearly three-fourths of the state.

There are many things that have contributed to the decline of salmon populations but they generally can be put in two major categories:

Human influences

Loss, fragmentation, and destruction of salmon habitat

Land uses that pollute waterways and degrade habitat

Dams

Over fishing

Hatcheries that produce fish that compete with wild salmon for limited resources

Changes to the natural environment

Fluctuating marine conditions

Climate change

Increases in predators

Reversing the Trend

The federal Endangered Species Act, and Washington State law, require development of recovery plans to recover salmon. Washington residents have been working for more than 10 years to reverse the fate of salmon, and those efforts are beginning to pay off. Learn more about Washington's unique approach to salmon recovery planning. Learn more about how salmon are doing in Washington and in your community by visiting the State of Salmon in Watersheds Web site, which gives you detailed information and data about the numbers of fish, watershed health, and implementation of salmon recovery plans.